Shabbat | Rest, Recalibration, and Why I'm Not Going Quiet

I missed last week. Here's why. We lost one of our cats, and grief doesn't keep a production schedule. But there's more. After two years of this work, I find myself worn out, and I've been sitting with that honestly.

So today I'm giving you a word: Shabbat. Not as a self-care buzzword but as a theological practice, commanded, ancient, and countercultural. And its companion, nuakh, the Hebrew word for dwelling, settling, being present. Together, they're my invitation for this season.

I'll be back with Theology Unleashed, a new series of short Greek and Hebrew word studies starting with tzedakah. And despite what the men of the SBC would prefer, I may not be as quiet this summer as I planned. This is not the time for women with voices to go silent.

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Episode mentioned: Pulpit Fiction: The Women They Renamed, Silenced, and Forgot 

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Transcript

Hey friend, welcome back to Jesus, Justice, and Mercy. If you follow me regularly, you may have noticed that I didn't upload an episode last week. My intention was to start Theology Unleashed going through the summer. But here's what happened. We've got three dogs and two cats, and something is always going on with the animals. Last week one of the kitties got really sick. And after 24 hours in Kitty ICU, and more money than a 12-pound kitty should ever cost, we made the heartbreaking decision to let him go in peace, knowing that he wasn't going to heal. And if any of you have lost a pet, you know just how deep that grief runs, especially when a pet goes before their time. So the grief was lingering. And honestly, even before that I found myself really worn out. And I was planning on taking the summer off.

But this morning I woke up and I saw that the SBC has doubled down on silencing women. And I thought this is probably not the time to go quiet. So this summer may be a little lighter than I planned, but shutting up isn't something that I think is an option right now in response to that. And in the face of the church being used as an instrument of unjust actions. So today I want to talk a little bit about Shabbat. Rest as something that is holy.

In the Old Testament, Sabbath was commanded. It wasn't optional. Even God stopped. And as Jesus followers, God doesn't expect us to live by Israel's laws. But I see it as an invitation for us. I think when we think of Shabbat, we often think of creation rest. And sometimes that can become legalistic. But there are two words used in Genesis for rest that I want to talk about. The familiar one, Shabbat, which is to seize or to stop. actually abstain from work. But there's a second one in there, Nuakh, which is to rest, to settle, or to dwell in a place. And God leads by example in Genesis as he rests from work, which is Shabbat, and then he dwells with his people in Genesis 2:16 -  Nuakh. God models both, and I think that's the invitation for us. The more I learn, the more I find the beauty in Hebrew traditions.

With Shabbat, the idea that rest is a marked time, and it is celebrated rather than just collapsed into a list of to-dos. Here's what it looked like in ancient Jerusalem. On Friday night, the start of Shabbat was heralded by a priest who blew a shofar or a trumpet from the Temple Tower. There were three blasts. The first one signaled for the people in the fields to stop working. The second one signaled that the shop should be closed, and that markets in the city should be closed as well. And then the third and final one indicated that it was time to wrap the food up to keep it warm, extinguish all the fires, and then light the Sabbath lamps. The Israelites looked for three stars in the sky once the sun had set. And that's when Sabbath officially began. So, this involved the Sabbath lights. Kindling those lights was one of the most critical acts.

It ushered in peace and a warm, welcoming environment for homes. And then the head of the household would recite the Kiddush. It was a blessing prayer sanctifying the Sabbath, typically over a cup of wine or grape juice, and it blessed the day. And then, finally, the family would partake in a ceremonial meal that included washing their hands and eating two braided loaves of bread, or challah, which commemorated the double portion of manna the Israelites received in the desert. They also had a ceremony that marked the end of Shabbat or Sabbath, Havdalah, and it ushered in a new week. This was performed on Saturday evenings after the appearance of three stars again. It used specific blessings over four different elements, and it was a time of transition from that holy time back into the ordinary work week.

We so often get in that place of I shouldn't be working on Sunday. But I think Shabbat is so much more than that. So what I'm planning to do this summer is both Shabbat and Nuakh. Our church is going through a Godspeed series, and I'm really hoping just to spend the summer being present with people, finding a slower rhythm. And despite my intention to take some time off this summer. I think it has to include theology unleashed. This is gonna be short episodes, under 10 minutes, and I want to do some Greek and Hebrew word study. Justice-rooted, seminary-informed, and my very theologically gifted dogs will be present. I'm gonna start with, tzekakah the word your Bible might translate as righteousness, that actually means justice. And here's the thing.

The concept of tzedakah has been underneath this entire archive from episode one. I just never stopped to hand you the exact word. That's exactly what Theology Unleashed is gonna do. Start with the words, and then we'll see what opens up. Honestly, I'm not gonna be as quiet this summer as I thought. There's just too much happening in the church right now for women with voices to go silent. If you're wrestling with what the church says about women speaking,

Go back to season three, episode 18, Pulpit Fiction. I said what it needed to be said there, and I think it's worth your time. In the meantime, 69 episodes are sitting in the archive waiting for you. Start at season one if you're new. Go back to something you heard a while ago if you're not. The work is all there. Make sure you subscribe if you're not, because even in my grief, I just can't be as quiet this summer as I thought. Now is not the time for women to shut up, despite what the men of the SBC would prefer. Hope to see you soon. 

Jesus, justice, no apologies.